Austin Film Society

Austin Film Society

14 Episodes

Founded by Richard Linklater in 1985 as a screening series dedicated to bringing experimental and art cinema to Austin, Texas, the Austin Film Society has since grown into a cultural powerhouse and cornerstone of the city’s creative community—all while remaining true to its edgy, eclectic roots. In addition to their vibrant repertory programming, AFS regularly welcomes renowned filmmakers from across the globe to present their work while fostering homegrown Texan talent through their Austin Film Society Grant program. Revelatory documentaries (NO HOME MOVIE), outré transmissions from the far-out fringes (SINGAPORE SLING), works from the greater Austin filmmaking diaspora (ATTENBERG, COMPUTER CHESS), and a blast of Black queer anarchy (CHOCOLATE BABIES)—the films they have selected reflect the spirit of discovery and artistic freedom that is at the heart of the AFS mission.

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Austin Film Society
  • Austin Film Society

    Episode 1

    Founded by Richard Linklater in 1985 as a screening series dedicated to bringing experimental and art cinema to Austin, Texas, the Austin Film Society has since grown into a cultural powerhouse and cornerstone of the city’s creative community—all while remaining true to its edgy, eclectic roots.

  • Working Girls

    Episode 2

    Directed by Lizzie Borden • 1986 • United States
    Starring Louise Smith, Ellen McElduff, Amanda Goodwin

    Sex work is portrayed with radical nonjudgment in Lizzie Borden’s immersive, richly detailed look at the rhythms and rituals of society’s most stigmatized profession. Inspired by the experience...

  • Good Morning

    Episode 3

    Directed by Yasujiro Ozu • 1959 • Japan
    Starring Masahiko Shimazu, Koji Shidara, Kuniko Miyake

    A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of inter­generational relationships, GOOD MORNING tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after t...

  • Singapore Sling

    Episode 4

    Directed by Nikos Nikolaidis • 1990 • Greece
    Starring Meredyth Herold, Michele Valley, Panos Thanassoulis

    One of the most outrageously perverse films ever made, this legendary cult shocker from godfather of the Greek Weird Wave Nikos Nikolaidis blends film noir, black comedy, and exploitation as...

  • Slacker

    Episode 5

    Directed by Richard Linklater • 1991 • United States
    Starring Richard Linklater, Kathy McCarty, Rudy Basquez

    SLACKER, directed by Richard Linklater, presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and overeducated young people. Shooting on 16 mm for a ...

  • Cold Water

    Episode 6

    Directed by Olivier Assayas • 1994 • France

    An acclaimed early work by Olivier Assayas, the long-unavailable, deeply felt coming-of-age drama COLD WATER can at last be seen in the United States. Drawing from his own youthful experiences, Assayas revisits the outskirts of Paris in the early 197...

  • Chocolate Babies

    Episode 7

    Directed by Stephen Winter • 1996 • United States
    Starring Suzanne Gregg Ferguson, Dudley Findlay Jr., Jon Kit Lee

    A band of queer, self-described “raging, atheist, meat-eating, HIV-positive, colored terrorists” fight back against homophobic conservative politicians on the streets of New York Ci...

  • Attenberg

    Episode 8

    Directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari • 2010 • Greece
    Starring Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis, Evangelina Randou

    Part of the new wave of Greek cinema, ATTENBERG is an offbeat coming-of-age film. Twenty-three-year-old Marina is living in a small factory town by the sea where her once-visionary arc...

  • Computer Chess

    Episode 9

    Directed by Andrew Bujalski • 2013 • United States
    Starring Patrick Riester, Myles Paige, James Curry

    Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess-software programmers forty-some years ago, COMPUTER CHESS transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and t...

  • No Home Movie

    Episode 10

    Directed by Chantal Akerman • 2015 • France, Belgium
    Starring Natalia Akerman, Chantal Akerman, Sylvaine Akerman

    The final film from groundbreaking auteur Chantal Akerman is a deeply personal, heart-woundingly intimate portrait of her relationship with her mother, Natalia, a Holocaust survivor a...

  • Pioneer

    Episode 11

    Directed by David Lowery • 2011 • United States
    Starring Will Oldham, Myles Brooks

    A father tells his son the most epic bedtime story ever.

  • Rat Pack Rat

    Episode 12

    Directed by Todd Rohal • 2014 • United States
    Starring Eddie Rouse, Steve Little, Margie Beegle

    A Sammy Davis Jr. impersonator, hired to visit with a loyal Rat Pack fan, finds himself delivering last rites at the boy’s bedside.

  • Carne seca

    Episode 13

    Directed by Jazmin Diaz • 2015 • United States
    Starring Joseph T. Campos, Karina Dominguez, Cristian Miranda

    Two brothers in rural Mexico have until sunset to sell a cooler of beef—or face their father’s anger.

  • The Rabbit Hunt

    Episode 14

    Directed by Patrick Bresnan • 2017 • United States

    In the Florida Everglades, rabbit hunting is considered a rite of passage for young men. THE RABBIT HUNT follows seventeen-year-old Chris and his family as they hunt in the fields of the largest industrial sugar farms in the U.S. The film record...